Singapore: 17-year-old driver without license arrested after woman's death

A 46-year-old Singaporean woman has died in a road accident on Saturday noon

A 46-year-old Singaporean woman riding a motorcycle died after she was knocked down by a teenage driver without license.

Lau Lee Kiau was on her way to work, riding pillion on her boyfriend's motorcycle. Her boyfriend was also injured.

A 17-year-old unlicensed driver who was responsible for the accident fled the scene after the incident but was arrested the same day.

Three other people including two elderly people were also injured and they have been taken to the same hospital for treatment.

The police said: "The 17-year-old car driver was subsequently arrested for causing death by a rash act." In Singapore, the penalty for causing death by a rash act is up to five years of jail, or a fine, or even both.

It is not clear what actually happened but the accident involved a car and a taxi. The mishap occurred at the junction of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2, towards Upper Thomson Road.

The victim was a divorcee and is survived by a 17-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. Her son, Toh Wei Xue, was at his lion dance practice when he received a call from his sister Angela.

He told The New Paper at his mother's wake last night: "She said our mother got into a road accident." But Wei Xue did not understand the seriousness of the incident until he got home.

There, he and Angela found out that their mother had died but no one told them which hospital she was in. "We didn't know where she was or which hospital she was taken to. I called every hospital, giving them my mother's name but was told she wasn't there," he said.

When they called the Traffic Police and they were told that their mother was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Lau's identity was initially listed as "unknown" which was why her children could not locate her.

Wei Xue said: "By the time we got there, she was already gone. She didn't leave any last words. We never got to say goodbye."